It is known to use an endless conveyor track for transporting passengers so that the passengers are transported on top of a moving conveyor track. For instance, autowalks and escalators are this type of passenger conveyors. Escalators have a plurality of steps connected to each other. The steps serve as conveying elements on top of which the passengers are to be transported from entrance level to exit level. In autowalks, a plurality of pallets, which are connected to each other, are often used as the conveying elements so that they together form a conveying surface on top of which the passengers are transported, which is essentially stepless throughout the track section which is accessible to passengers. An autowalk can be a horizontal or an inclined autowalk (moving ramp). Also such autowalks exist, where the conveyor track is in the form of an endless belt.
Passenger conveyors may include auxiliary devices/elements at its entrance and/or exit to provide additional functions for the passenger conveyor. Such devices/elements are e.g. those meant to guide the passengers. A special need for guidance may rise, for instance, when a passenger arriving to the passenger conveyor is transporting big objects, which he needs to bring on the conveyor with him. Such objects may include a bag, a shopping trolley or other objects the passenger wants bring onto the conveyor track. In some countries it may be even allowed to take a baby carriage to the conveyor. It is known to position a guide element or guide elements, at the entrance and/or at the exit of the passenger conveyor, which guide element defines lateral limit to movement of the rolling object. These guide elements are sometimes called as trolley guides. A guide element may be installed on the floor at proximity of the balustrade end, forming an elongated lateral guide for an object rolling on the floor to/from the conveyor, so as to guide the rolling object to/from the conveyor without contacting the balustrade. Another need for guidance is the need for indicating the passenger the running direction of the passenger conveyor sufficiently early so he avoids walking onto the conveyor at its exit. This could otherwise easily happen for instance when the conveyor is in standby mode. This problem has been solved by installing light signaling devices in the balustrade, which radiate light towards the entrance/exit zone. This light is of suitable color to indicate the passenger the running direction of the passenger conveyor. The auxiliary devices may include also traffic detectors. A need for detecting passenger presence has made it common in modern passenger conveyors that the sender and the receiver of a proximity sensor are installed in the balustrade, usually in the balustrade pedestal, which produce a detecting beam towards the entrance/exit zone, i.e. the space in front of the conveyor track via which space the passenger must pass so as to get on the conveyor track or away from it. If the detecting beam is cut by a passenger or an object he's transporting, the passenger conveyor system may take it into account and control the passenger conveyor based on the detection. Alternatively the detection can be used for passenger counting, or the detections in entrance and exit zone can be compared for determining whether the conveyor track is empty of passengers.
In prior art, a set of auxiliary devices/elements chosen by the client has been included in the passenger conveyor by adding several separate devices on the passenger conveyor. A problem has been that the passenger conveyor entrance/exits have eventually had multiple devices/elements for auxiliary functions, which have required separate installing positions and wirings. They are all protected separately from vandalism or impacts. On the other hand also adding the auxiliary components and functions as add-on features, has not been optimal. For instance in modernization it required dismantling, and rewiring and on-site work. The auxiliary devices have not been visually nor structurally compatible to each other, so multiple separate devices have been installed. The devices have been large or due to compromises their positioning has not been adequate to achieve optimal reliability of the function.